Winnipeg CJA campaign sets fundraising record

WINNIPEG — With the final results now tallied, the 2010-2011 Winnipeg Combined Jewish Appeal campaign has set a new fundraising record.

“We raised $5.4 million [compared to $5.3 million in each of the two preceding campaigns],” said CJA executive director Elaine Goldstine.

“And we did it despite the loss of $260,000 from a number of donors who either passed away or moved out of town. We had a lot of donors increase their contributions. We had a 21 per cent increase in donations from the 25-to-45 age group. And our women’s philanthropy campaign raised $1.275 million, a 32 per cent increase from last year,” she said.

“We are very please that the allocations committee will be able to distribute over $100,000 more to our agency partners.”

As has been the pattern for the past few years, 30 per cent of the CJA total has been earmarked for Israel-based projects.

Winnipeg remains the only community in North America that continues to have a two-line card, whereby donors can indicate how much of their gifts they want to allocate to local needs and how much to Israel.

Goldstine said the 2011-2012 campaign is scheduled to kick off on Sept. 11.

“We are still in the process of discussing our plans and goals,” she said.

However, last year, CJA organizers decided to establish a long-term goal of $6.5 million for the 2012-2013 campaign – rather than setting a new goal each year – by encouraging donors to increase their gifts by a minimum 25 per cent a year.

Donors are also being encouraged to contribute to support the community’s year-old Securing Our Future campaign by endowing gifts to the CJA through the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba.

Howard and Hope Morry, the co-chairs of last year’s campaign, are continuing on in their roles for 2011-2012. Both are longtime community leaders. Howard also chaired the campaign 11 years ago, while Hope co-chaired the CJA Women’s Division campaign with Tova Vickar nine years ago.

Also returning for a third year in a row is Marcia Cosman as Women’s Division chair. Cosman is a third-generation community leader. She’s been a CJA canvasser for more than 25 years and joined the CJA’s management team four years ago.